Tel'aran'rhiod
by Azurelight
Summary: Another post-gift fic, borrowing heavily from Robert Jordan. (B/S)
1. New Worlds

  
Tel'aran'rhiod  
  
  
Pairing: B/S (is there any other way?)  
Rating: R (to be safe)  
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and a bunch of other corporations own Buffy The Vampire Slayer and related characters, not I. I'm only borrowing them for my own nefarious purposes. The title and a bit of the concept was borrowed from Robert Jordan's series The Wheel Of Time.  
Spoilers: Yet another Post-gift story.  
  
  
"Be brave. Live... for me."  
She was still falling, although forever had come and gone. Eternities and worlds flew past her at speeds described in the richest of colors. With each beat of her heart, another world flashed before her eyes.   
The first to pass had been all the levels of hell. She had seen all forms of torture known to man and demon alike. Beasts of indescribable evil brushed their poisoned claws scant inches from her face as she plummeted through their worlds. Fear squirmed its way inside her heart, locking her mind to the beauty of worlds to come.   
Hell came and went, followed by world of magic and fantasy. Fairies, elves, dragons and the elusive unicorn plunged past her dead eyes, their magic reaching out to her as they recognized a fellow creature of light.  
Passing through all material planes, she came swiftly to places where the rules of the flesh did not apply. Although bendable, rules could not be broken. As she plunged into a realm where the physical was not allowed, the rules were enforced. Dazed, she remained in a starry sky and watched her body fall away without her.  
This realm had no gravity, there was no direction or points from which to orient. Sparkling points of light floated all around her. Thousands upon thousands stretched near and far. The ones closest to her were the size of basketballs, and they boiled and writhed with fantastic colors. Stretching as far as she could see, the balls of light filled the inky void she had come to rest in.  
As she gazed at the striking mosaic of stars before her, she felt a magnetic force pulling her deeper into the strange realm. It felt warm and loving, caressing her astral form while pulling her towards a dim point of light in the distance. She let herself be pulled towards the distant light and was shocked when only a few moments passed for her to come to a smaller, charcoal gray star. It was dim and fuzzy around the edges, in stark contrast to the brilliance of the stars around it. She wondered why it had attracted her and reached out to touch it...  
  
*****  
  
Buffy started, wondering why she was standing outside Spike's crypt. Glancing around the graveyard, she was shocked to see how horrible it looked. Weeds choked gravestones lying broken and crumbling on the ground. The graveyard continued forever, stones broken and slanted sticking from the dry ground as though they too were weeds. Shaking off the feeling of cold death the graveyard gave her, Buffy pushed open the door of the crypt and walked confidently into the dark interior.  
Before her, playing in larger-than-life color and surround-sound on the wall of the crypt was her plunge from the tower, as seen from Spike's view. Buffy watched, shocked, as again and again she embraced Dawn and leapt into the white light of the portal Dawn's blood had opened... only to fall lifelessly to the ground moments later. She tore her eyes away from the painful sight and noticed a figure cloaked in shadows sitting in Spike's chair.  
"Spike?" Buffy whispered, stepping closer.  
"Guess I couldn't do anything right." The figure spoke, revealing itself to be the blond Vampire.  
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, stepping closer, but still unable to see Spike through the black shadows he was covered in. The scene playing on the wall suddenly switched to Spike's fight with Doc and his plunge from the tower.  
"I couldn't save her... or you." Spike's shadowed form explained.  
"That's not true. You did everything you could." Buffy stood as close to Spike as she could get without sitting in his lap. Still, she couldn't see him.  
"Not enough." Came the bitter reply. "Not nearly enough."  
"Why? I'm here, aren't I? I'm alive and Dawn's alive and everything's alright."   
"No!" Spike yelled, surging from his chair to finally step into the light. His face was again the mass of bruises and welts it had been after Glory's torture. He was shirtless and his chest was as battered and broken as his face.   
"You're not here!" He screamed at her. "You're dead and I'm dreaming."  
Buffy stepped back, swallowing the fear that had bloomed in her with Spike's revelation.  
"Dreaming?" She whispered, unable to comprehend how she had traveled from the portal to Spike's dreams.  
"Yes, dreaming. Do I have to explain everything to you, Summers?" Spike spat out, his voice full of pain and self-loathing. "Now would you be so kind as to sod off? The witch'll give me something if I don't sleep right and personally, I'd like to remember."  
"I don't want to leave." Buffy responded, her voice laced heavily with fear. "I don't know how I got here. I don't know where I am or what's going on and you want me to leave?"  
"Buffy, I - " Spike began to reply harshly, when suddenly the replay of Buffy's death on the crypt wall stopped and the black shadows lifted from the crypt. "Shit." Spike muttered as the welts and bruises on his face and body melted from him.  
"What's going on?" Buffy asked as the pained look in Spike's eyes was replaced with joy and love.  
"She gave me something." This new Spike replied happily. "I can sleep better, now."  
"I'm really in your dreams, aren't I?" The question came unbidden to her lips as she watched red silk wall coverings spring from nowhere to cover the gray crypt walls and the sarcophagus Spike called his bed to melt into a large four-poster king-size bed with red silk sheets and mountains of pillows.   
"Always." Spike whispered in her ear.  
Cool arms reached around her from behind and drew her flush against his body. Although she knew she should break free from Spike's hold, she didn't want too. Feelings of love and warmth infused her as Spike began to drop kisses down her neck. She felt her rational side flee into the shadows with her fear and apprehension. Spike and his dream overwhelmed her and took control.  
  
*****  
  
"I love you, Buffy." Spike whispered in her ear, as they lay entwined in each other's arms. After what seemed like days of lovemaking, the couple had finally succumbed to exhaustion. They had spent the day curled up in each other's arms, gently holding one another. Buffy felt a strange tingle in the pit of her stomach and somehow she knew the sun was about to set.   
"Spike, I..." Buffy began, feeling strangely compelled to return the declaration of love as she had felt compelled to give in to Spike's advances days before.  
"WAKE UP, SPIKE!"   
The world shook and Buffy was flung from the comforting warmth of the bed and Spikes arms, into...  
Blackness surrounded her once more. Buffy emitted a startled yelp as reality slammed into her dream-addled mind. She had... Spike had... They had...  
"Oh, God!" Buffy cried, realizing what she had just spent hours doing, and with whom. "What the hell was that?"  
Nothing answered her.  



	2. Dark Ocean

Part 2  
  
There was no way to tell if time passed in the starry void. Buffy had managed to calm herself somewhat after being flung unceremoniously from Spike's dream. She wondered idly how he had managed to control her actions like that. Buffy was torn on the issue, but she still felt rage that Spike had somehow controlled her enough that she had been about to blurt out a love for him that didn't quite exist. Floating in a sea of stars tends to give you lots of time to think.  
Without warning, Buffy felt another magnetic presence. She looked around the stars, searching for the dull gray star that was somehow Spike. It had disappeared when she left it. The magnetic pull grew stronger and Buffy was amazed to see the stars begin to move. Or was she moving? Blurs of light streaked past her in every color imaginable. Just as the beauty of it registered in her still-fogged mind, the light stopped moving. Floating in the black void before her was a star larger than all the rest. It was a bright green swirling shimmer, pulsing with untold energies. Buffy felt pulled towards the green star as she had felt pulled to what she had come to think of as Spike's star. Suddenly, it all made sense. Buffy plunged happily toward the green energies before her with a smile she reserved only for her sister.  
  
*****  
  
"Dawn?" Buffy called out as she strolled into her house. It felt wonderful to be home, but where was her sister?  
"Upstairs!" Dawn's reply floated eerily down the stairs. She sounded muffled, as though wrapped in cotton balls. Buffy smiled happily; she was going to see her sister! Bounding up the stairs, Buffy rounded a corner and walked straight into a Hollywood movie set.  
"Buffy, baby, you're late." Dawn's voice floated down from overhead. Buffy looked up to see her sister lounging in a director's chair labeled "The Key" in large letters. The chair was on a platform high enough to see all the action.  
"Action?" Buffy murmured to herself wondering where the stray thought had come from. She was late. She still had to get into costume.  
"Hey, sweetheart, I say that word."   
"Yes, Dawn." Buffy mumbled as she fled towards the set, dressed as she had been on the night she had gone to fight... "Glory?" Buffy asked herself again as she climbed to the top of the tall tower on set, wondering why she was having such a hard time remembering. "Remembering what? I have a picture to make." Shaking all odd thoughts from her head, Buffy finished her ascent and stood on the platform, waiting for her co-star.  
"Took you long enough." Spike complained as he too ascended to the top of the tower.  
"Spike?" Buffy asked, thoroughly confused. The script didn't call for him to be here today. "What are you doing here?"  
"Re-write, love." Spike explained. "I'm supposed to save you now."  
"READY?" Dawn's voice boomed around them from strategically positioned speakers. "ACTION!"  
Buffy ran towards the end of the platform, feeling a distinct sense of deja vous. Just as she was about to fling herself from the edge of the platform, Spike grabbed her from behind and dragged her away.  
"I told you, we won't let you die again!" He cried out over the fake wind that suddenly arose to dramatically whip her hair around her face.   
"GOOD, GOOD! KEEP IT UP!" Dawn's disembodied voice floated around the couple.  
"But how do we close the portal?" The words marched out of Buffy's mouth and she blinked in surprise. That wasn't what she had wanted to say.  
"Like this," Spike held her tightly and his mouth descended towards hers.  
"But..." Buffy protested. This wasn't how it should go.  
"Relax, love. This is a movie. Dawn'll add the CGI later and everything will work out fine." Spike explained, quieting any further protest with a deep kiss. Buffy sighed into Spike's mouth and returned the kiss with equal fervor, all thoughts of how and why again fleeing from her mind.  
"BRAVO!!" Dawn's voice screamed into the suddenly quiet studio.   
"See? This is how it should be." Dawn explained from her new position on the couch in the living room.  
"What?" Buffy broke her kiss from Spike and looked around, amazed at what she saw. She was curled up on Spike's lap in the comfy chair of her living room. Dawn was sprawled out on the couch.  
"This is how it should be." Spike repeated, drawing Buffy towards him for another kiss. She complied.  
"See, Buffy," Dawn lectured, hopping up from the couch to pace in front of the kissing couple. "You weren't supposed to die. I was. And now things are really crazy. Spike and I are both really messed up. We miss you so much. You should be here."  
"I am here, Dawnie." Buffy managed to break away from Spike long enough to comfort her sister. Dawn did not stop her pacing, but she smiled gratefully.   
"No, you're not really." Dawn's smile fell from her face. "You're dead."  
"Dead?" Buffy asked, struggling to stand. Spike held her tight and she couldn't get enough leverage to push herself from his lap.  
"...as a doornail." Spike commented.  
"And who said you'd never seen Interview?" Dawn questioned Spike in a teasing voice. They smiled at each other before returning concentration to the distraught Slayer.  
"D-dead?" Buffy stuttered, "But... I'm right here. We're right here! How can I be dead?"  
"I'm dreaming." Dawn explained simply.  
"I've heard that before." Buffy commented, vague memories of another, more intimate dream flitting through her head. This was almost making sense. If only...  
BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ!  
  
*****  
  
Blinking in confusion at the mass of stars floating before her, not a one of them gray or swirling green, Buffy wondered to herself what the hell was going on. She wondered if it was specifically Spike and Dawn whose dreams she had been able to enter, or if she could choose a random star and peek into the dreams of a total stranger. Feeling no magnetic pull towards any other of the magnificent orbs pulsing around her, Buffy tried to move through the starry expanse.   
Nothing happened.  
She could neither walk, fly nor swim. Floating in the starry void, she wondered how she had traveled before when she had felt the pull of first Spike and then her sister. Finally giving up on trying to feel magnetic, Buffy scrunched up her eyes and wished to move very hard. It was worth a try.  
Her eyes flew open as the world lurched and stars flew past eyes attached to a brain finally coherent enough to understand the beauty of it.  
  



	3. Black Powers

Part 3  
  
Buffy was beginning to feel ill, although she suspected that the feeling was all in her mind. As well, she did not seem to have a body in this strange dream world. Nevertheless, she was feeling distinctly ill, with the universe rushing past her in bright streaks of dreams. She wished desperately for a moment that Willow were there to help her with this strange universe. Her Wiccan friend would no doubt know all about this dimension she had ended up in and would be able to help her. The feeling of nausea returned twice as strong when her motion stopped completely.   
"How did I...?" Buffy wondered aloud, not letting herself contemplate if she was really speaking with no mouth or hearing her voice with no real ears to hear. Stopping her disturbing train of thought, Buffy glanced around to get her bearings.   
Nothing had changed, to the Slayer's eyes. The universe was still black as pitch and filled with the writhing stars Buffy had concluded were dreams. One of the dreams piqued her interest, and she willed herself closer for a better look.  
The star was exactly the shape of the rest, about the size of a basketball, as far as Buffy could reason. It glowed warmly, swirling shades of red pulsing like a heartbeat. But something was wrong with it. Occasional greasy-looking flecks of black would swirl with the red, coming out of the depths of the dream to reveal themselves to Buffy's eyes. The black spots seemed foreign on the dream, something unnatural and ominous. The red star did not draw Buffy as had the dreams of Spike and Dawn, but the Slayer still felt a connection with the diseased star. It seemed familiar to her somehow and the oily black floating in it worried her greatly.  
"Buffy?" The whisper came from behind her as the star popped like a bubble and disappeared. Before emotion could register, she spun to answer the voice.   
"W-Willow?" Buffy stuttered, barely recognizing the form before her. The figure was shadowy, as though she wasn't really in the realm. Her form looked like Willow, except for a few disturbing differences. Her hair was a brighter red that the witch would ever color it and her skin was a bloodless white. It was her eyes that most disturbed Buffy. They were completely black, cold and lifeless.   
"Oh, my God!" Willow's voice echoed as though she was speaking from a tunnel. Her face did not move and Buffy willed herself to float slowly backward from the disturbing countenance of her friend. "It really is you, isn't it?" Willow babbled, seemingly oblivious of Buffy's unease.   
"Yeah, I'm really me." Buffy answered, trying to sound as cheerful as Willow. She was unsure if it really was Willow before her and was desperately afraid that it wasn't.  
"I can't believe I finally found you. We've been searching for weeks. You can finally come back now! Won't that be great?!-" Willow babbled on enough that Buffy became convinced that it was really her friend talking to her. A strong sense of relief washed through her.  
"Will?" Buffy attempted to stop Willow from running off at the mouth. Her first attempt had no luck.  
"-and it was so amazing! I just thought that you might not be really dead because of all the worlds you must have passed through so Giles had you put on life-support and we researched for weeks and weeks and finally I figured it out because I heard Spike and Dawn talking about some super-realistic dreams they kept having about you. Then I kinda talked to Anya about dream worlds and she told me about this place and I cast this spell to sense your presence if you ever came near my dream and here you are and it worked!"  
"I'm dead?" Buffy felt nauseous again. Her head spun and she found it difficult to register anything beyond a thundering sound in her non-existent ears.   
"No!" Willow exclaimed, realizing that she had talked too much again. "No, you're just temporarily separated from your body. We'll get you back."  
A large, oily black spot oozed from behind Willow and floated leisurely slid from her shoulder down her chest. Willow didn't seem to notice it.  
"Will?" Buffy whispered, feeling very much like she had when Glory took Dawn.   
"It'll be ok, Buffy." Willow's voice contained a smile, but her body was still expressionless, and now oozed with a few more black spots. "I have to go now, but I can find you here again. Don't enter anyone's dreams! They can be dangerous." Her voice and form faded slowly, oozing with more and more of the greasy black stuff. "We'll get you back!" Willow called in a voice echoing from oblivion. Covered completely in black, she faded into the atmosphere and disappeared.  
Buffy barely noticed the return of the red star as she tried to digest all the information Willow had imparted. She idly watched the warm glow or the red star, wondering if it was Willow's spell or if it was truly the dream of her friend. Buffy hoped that Willow was ok as she watched the red star ooze with the same black stuff that had crawled over Willow.   
"And then there was one." Buffy commented to herself in a frightened voice as Willow's red star was covered completely in black. 


End file.
